To some, this goal might seem a little silly. After all, aren’t video games just that? Games? To others, they may have dreams of grandeur. A chance to make it big playing the game they love the most. For me? Well I just get a trill for the competition, a joy in improving myself and my skills. Even if it might be meaningless to other people.
Regardless of your reasons, if you want to get better at doing something you’re going to have to put in the time to do it. It’s also not something that can be done alone either. Sure only you can produce the results, but it takes learning from others to truly become a master of anything. Gaming is no exception.
I got this idea a month ago, when I finally decided to go through a video series a Youtuber known as Rocket Jump Ninja, who had been posting over the last couple of years to improving your gaming ability. For anyone who cares that much I highly recommend giving it a watch. It certainly made me think about how I’ve approach games. (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZIoNIMGrHpqdoh9eL6Z7pb_Vx2Q1BDg9 )
He goes over things that you might expect, such as setup and settings. But he also goes into detail about your mindset, something that I think a lot of people here are mindful of. It made me wonder what else there might be to work on to become better. The series certainly is not over so he’ll probably have more video in the future after I’ve written this.
Using what he’s said and my own experience playing countless games over my lifetime. I think there are more things that should be stated if you want to get better at games.
Practice Makes Perfect
I know, not exactly new knowledge I’m dropping on anyone. But it is the most common sense answer for anyone and it absolutely shouldn’t be forgotten. There’s more to it than that though. Even if we understand that simply playing more helps improve us, there’s still the problem of doing just that.
For any adults out there, I understand that it’s hard to balance life as is. Work always will take a lot of time out of your days. Maybe if you have children then you have take care of them. For teens still living with their parents, there’s still school and homework that has to be done. I would never say abandon your responsibilities just to play some video games.
However, you’re going to have to make some sacrifices in your free time if you are serious about this. If this is the case, then I’d recommend that you set time up before hand where you don’t have to have any external worries and you can focus on playing. The more you do it, it just starts to become a part of your daily life. Just like with anything else in life, it needs its time to be set aside. Otherwise it becomes something that just gets pushed to “tomorrow”.
Maintain Your Health
Just like taking care of your life, taking care of your health should always be a top priority regardless of what you want to do. When it comes to gaming, that’s very important when it comes to getting better in game. If you’re feeling in pain or your eyes are getting tired. That might be a good sign that you should step away from the TV or computer. Aside from the fact that eye strain keeps you from playing your best. There’s just no reason to push your body that could make long term impacts on life. It’s just not worth it.
The same can be said for what you put in your body. I think we all know the stereotype. Gamers drinking Mountain Dew and eating Dorito chips. Basically eating junk food and drinking lots of sugary drinks. I admit that I’m not the healthiest person out there and I do enjoy soft drinks way too much. However the point I’m making here is that you would be better off finding healthy alternatives which improve your health.
In terms of reaction time, I found no evidence that eating better give better times. Though a good diet helps improve energy and there is evidence that shows being fatigued lowers reaction time. The same could be said about exercise, as those that were physically fit showed faster times.
Getting better and more sleep helps as well. Since your body will be less fatigued and therefore not holding you back. Basically what I’m saying is that having a healthy and sound body is key to being able to perform at a high level during a game. It also certainly doesn’t hurt to do it just to improve your living standards as well.
Good Mindset
I don’t think anyone is surprised to hear that people in competitive games can get a bit heated, and that’s putting it nicely. But yes, if you’re in a bad mood. Then maybe it might be best to put down the controller or step away from the computer and do something else. A differing point made in Rocket Ninja Jump’s videos is that he believes that you can use that anger to create productivity. A type of energy source, if you will.
Which moves to my next point. Motivation. Being upset at yourself can work to motivate you to improve. Not liking the feeling of performing poorly and taking steps to avoid that. On the flip side, if your lacking that motivation and clearly aren’t enjoying it. Then just stop, find something else to do or maybe play a different game instead. If you find that you have to force yourself to keep playing just to get a little bit better, then it’s time for a change.
My final point is play with no distractions. Like other things that require our attention, such as driving, it would be wise to not have distractions get in the way. It harms reaction and concentration and it does feel annoying to get pulled out of a game because life got in the way. The same goes for the thoughts in your mind. If there’s something important weighing on your mind your better off focusing on that instead. Unless there’s no way to work on it until later, you should be fixing your problems first before any type of game time.
In conclusion, if you want to be a better gamer. Then you should make sure you work on all facets of your life. Even a professional athlete for all the time they spend either practicing at their sport, or working out to maintain their fitness. They still make sure to spend time on themselves in a personal level and time for their friends and family. You need to find that balance in your life, then you can truly focus on improving you abilities against others players.
Most importantly, have fun. I hope I’ll see you at the top of the leader boards.
